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(Radio Iowa) – Registration is now open for the Field To Fork Deer Hunting Program which takes Iowans with zero hunting skills and teaches them to use a compound bow to hunt and kill white-tailed deer. Jamie Cook, the program’s coordinator with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says students will also learn how to field dress the animal and cook venison. Cook notes, it takes a commitment. “The program does go on about six months,” Cook says. “What we’ve learned over time is, with hunting, being a pretty serious life skill, it takes a while to develop and in order to really get to the point where you enjoy it and you’re willing to build confidence, it does take that amount of time.”
For Iowans who want to tackle the challenge of bow hunting as a means of sourcing their own protein or red meat, Cook says the program provides the opportunity to learn what it takes to do it all yourself. “Beginning this summer, our participants will start shooting at a local archery range,” Cook says. “They’ll get some help from professional and hobby archers that can give them tips to increase their proficiency. During the summer we’ll also be sending them some books to read, some chapters, some weekly homework assignments.”
There will also be a series of videos to watch that focus on bow hunting skills and hunting deer in particular. As summer progresses, students will learn basic strategies for hunting deer including the proper equipment, where to hunt, safe shooting practices and tree stand placement. “As we get close to deer season in the fall, we’ll have a couple of workshop days or field days where they’ll come out and learn to do a blood trail, they’ll learn to shoot from a tree stand,” Cook says. “We’ll make sure their proficiency is good, and by that point we’ll also have a mentor available for them, and from there, they get to hunt on their own schedules.”
The course will be hosted in Adel, Altoona and Council Bluffs and is geared for participants 21 and older. The cost is $238.50 which includes tags, licenses, books and archery loaner equipment. The program is part of a national effort to recruit, retain and reactivate hunters due to the overall decline in hunting and outdoor recreation.
To register: https://forms.gle/ACJQwij96BdGnw4g8
(Submitted by Guthrie County ISU Extension) – Each year the Guthrie County ISU Extension and Outreach has offered a Farm Safety Day to the third-grade youth in Guthrie County for over 20 years. This year is no different, it just included the fourth graders due to having to cancel the 2020 event because of the pandemic. This year we had youth from ACGC Schools, Coon Rapids Bayard Schools, and Panorama Schools attend our event. According to the National Children’s Center, every day about 33 children are injured in agriculture-related incidents.
The topics and presenters this year were:
Guthrie County extension Program Director Krista Downing says “We were fortunate enough to have the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Department kick us off each morning with a discussion with the youth about being safe on the farm and giving real life examples of things they have seen around Guthrie County. We ended each day with a Gasoline Safety lesson from The Legacy of Christopher Allsup Foundation. After losing her 10-year old son to a gas can explosion in 2013, Christopher’s mother Jane Allsup, has made it her mission to raise awareness and to educate the public regarding the dangers of portable gasoline containers that do not conform to ASTM consumer safety standards.”
The event is hosted by the Guthrie County ISU Extension & Outreach office. The event this year was co-sponsored by Guthrie County Community Foundation, ACGC FFA Chapter, Guthrie County Farm Bureau, Guthrie County Corn Growers, and Guthrie County Fairboard.
And you thought this year’s Best Burger Contest was over! The Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC) and New York Beef Council (NYBC) are putting their state’s best burgers to the test in a battle for bragging rights of the ultimate best burger. The IBIC says consumers have a chance to cast their vote for either Iowa’s Bino Burger or New York’s Hot & Smokey Candied Bacon Burger. The voting is open now through 11:59-p.m. May 30, 2021. The 2021 Iowa’s Best Burger was recently awarded May 3rd, to Bambino’s in Ossian.
The Bino Burger has been referenced as “the burger-lovers burger”, featuring a juicy, all-beef burger patty topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. Customers can customize their burger from that foundation with bacon, eggs, onion rings, hash browns, and more. Selection of Iowa’s Best Burger was obtained through a phase of public voting. For a month, burger lovers went online and voted for their favorite Iowa burger joint. At the end of the month, the ten restaurants with the most votes were declared the “Top 10”. From there, three anonymous judges visited each of the restaurants, scoring the burger patties based on taste, doneness, and presentation.
On the Northeastern side of the country, Ale ‘n’ Angus Pub was named the Best New York Burger on May 10. The downtown Syracuse eatery earned the honor with their Hot & Smokey Candied Bacon Burger featuring an 8-ounce Angus beef patty with jack cheese, candied bacon, house-made onion spread, chipotle mayonnaise, and honey. Selection of New York’s final four were obtained through public nominations and online voting, with a team of judges choosing the overall winner following a cookoff.
Compared to Iowa, New York represents a dense population center that is further removed from how cattle are raised. In an effort to help bridge the gap between beef production in the Midwest and Northeastern consumers, the Best New York Burger Contest is made possible with funding from IBIC. Iowa’s Best Burger Contest is sponsored by IBIC through the Iowa State Beef Checkoff and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association. Restaurants are an important and valuable partner of the beef industry.
Iowans to cast their vote for Bambino’s Bino Burger using the online nomination form on the IBIC website, or the Iowa Beef Council Facebook page. Remember, the nomination period will close at 11:59 p.m. on May 30, 2021. Officials say COVID-19 restrictions are changing and now is the time to go out and support your local restaurants. Many restaurants in the state have dine-in and carry-out options to meet your needs. After a challenging year for many restaurants around the country, we encourage consumers to rally their support behind restaurant owners and Iowa’s beef farmers by choosing to order a real-beef burger on May 28 to celebrate National Beef Burger Day!
(Radio Iowa) – The president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation says the state legislative session that ended last week was a great one for agriculture, with one exception. Craig Hill praised the move by lawmakers to shift the burden of paying for the state’s mental health program away from county property taxpayers, since farmers own a significant portion of the state’s land. “There’s only a couple other states that actually pay for mental health service with a property tax,” Hill says. “Shifting, dollar for dollar, costs of mental health services away from property tax to the general fund was a goal that we’ve had.”
Hill says another legislative win this session included more funding for Iowa’s water quality programs. “Those dollars that were appropriated a few years ago to address water quality with our nutrient reduction strategy, we extended those,” Hill says. “We had some new opportunities for beginning farmer tax credits, some expansion there.” Hill says there was a big legislative disappointment in the 2021 session, one that would have benefited corn and soybean growers. “The one that we made progress on but we didn’t complete and that was to expand the use of biofuels, both ethanol and biodiesel,” Hill says. “We’ll be back next session, working away at that one.”
Overall, Hill says Iowa lawmakers did a good job in approving a budget that leaves the state sitting in a good position following the pandemic.
(Radio Iowa) – Wet weather slowed planting last week — while the corn and soybeans already in the ground are emerging. The weekly U-S-D-A crop report says there were only two-point-four days suitable for fieldwork during the week. Just three percent of the corn was planted last week and it is now 97 percent complete. That is two weeks ahead of the five-year average. Three-quarters of the corn has now emerged. The report shows 89 percent of the soybean crop has been planted — an increase of six percent during the last week. The overall soybean planting is 15 days ahead of average. More than one half of the soybeans planted have emerged.
(Radio Iowa) – The popular fish finder site run by the D-N-R is back up after being changed over to a new provider. Fisheries Bureau spokesman, Jeff Kopaska, says the site includes information on species and numbers the fisheries staff gather during their surveys on lakes, rivers and streams. “We’ve actually updated our data collection and we are using tablets out in the field and updating all the data electronically while we are out there. We just upload it to the cloud and make that data available to the public,” Kopaska says.
He says it gives you the size and weight of fish by species. “If you are interested in going bluegill fishing and you want to know which lakes we caught the most eight to ten-inch bluegills in last year — you can compare all of the lakes that have fish from that size category,” Kopaska explains. “So, it’s a pretty useful tool for anglers.” He says there’s a lot of interest from anglers in this info. “Since April of 2018 when the site went down I get emails about every week asking when its going to be back up,” according to Kopaska. “We’ve finally got it to a point where we are happy with it and feel that it is good information for the public, and we’ve made it available to them once again.”
Kopaska says it provides good short-term information for anglers looking for fish — but the D-N-R uses the info for longer-term management of the fisheries. “We strive to make data-based decisions and have a solid scientific rationale for what we are doing and why we are doing it,” Kopaska says. “You have to have this data and this information available to make decisions on what we should be stocking, if we should be changing any regulations.” Kopaska says the numbers show the overall health of the fisheries are pretty good. “We have record numbers of fish being Caught. We have high-quality populations in numerous lakes across the state. And the ones that aren’t doing as well — we continue to strive to improve them,” he says. “Our overall goal in D-N-R fisheries is to shorten the time between bites — and to make each one of those bites count.”
You can go to the D-N-R website at www.iowadnr.gov to find the survey information.
Atlantic, IA. – Fifty High School and Junior students anglers from across the state competed in the first TBF/SAF Iowa State Fishing Championship presented Conductix Wamplfer at Prairie Rose State Park on Saturday. Each team consisting of two competitors launched their boats at 7am to bagged their five largest fish on the 173- acre lake. The teams returned at 2:30pm to begin the official weigh-in to see who had hauled in the biggest bag of fish.
The Atlantic team of Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes won the SAF Powerade High School Competition with five fish, totaling 11.07 pounds. In the runner up spot goes to Joaquin Wailes of Wiota and Joey Oathoudt of Corning, IA with a 5 bag limit totaling 10.07 lbs, 3rd place went Carter Frost and Cade Hoover of Cedar Falls with 5 bag limit, weighing 10.03. Comes claimed the AM Corhon Big Bass award with 3.01 lb bass. Cooper Jipsen and Dylan Comes will now compete in a National Tournament in South Carolina.Drey Newell and Braden Smith, the overall points champions, will also advance to the National Fishing Tournament in South Carolina. The two seniors from Atlantic finished sixth in the Tournament.The two teams will also try to qualify for the SAF World Finals which held in conjunction with the National Championship Tournament. Over 3 million dollars worth of scholarships and prizes are on the line for the student anglers.
The Cass County Conservation Board will hold a National Trails Day T-Bone Trail Ride, on June 5th. The program will meet at the I-80/T-Bone Trail Trailhead, North of Atlantic, beginning at 1-p.m. There is no charges. Bike, walk, strollers…everyone is welcome! Come out and celebrate National Trails Day! All ages/abilities welcome and Free!
The event will be cancelled if there is inclement weather.
(Lewis) – The Cass County Conservation Board is excited to present “Nature Tots” Program during the months of June and July. The programs are targeted for tots 3-4 years old, with an accompanying adult, to introduce them to the plants and animals of the world. The Nature Tots will get to choose any or all three of our Free Programs. Travel to the savanna to see elephants and zebras with Safari Searchers. Learn about the plants and animals of the rainforest with Rainforest Rangers, and dig into what it takes to grow your own garden with Garden Growers.
The next programs are to be held on Thursdays and Saturdays:
The programs FREE, but you are asked to pre-register, by filling out the registration form Here. Or you may email lkanning@casscoia.us or call 712-769-2372. Space is limited and children must be accompanied by an adult.
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